Make It Perfect

.September Cool Shops! KATE CONKLIN DESIGNS.

(Cool Shops! note…I didn’t want to completely say goodbye to my August Cool Shops! so have made a special Cool Shops! archive page (see the link under my header) for you to visit and will be updating each month with new Cool Shops!)

Cool Shop! #1 for September (yep, September ALREADY!) is Kate Conklin Designs.


Kate is a wife, mother of two, speech pathologist and avid quilter who has recently begun not only designing her own quilt patterns, but also writing and selling her patterns! Kate posted me a complete set of her patterns to review and I only wish I had 100 more hours in my week so that I could have actually sewed one of her gorgeous quilts myself! Instead, I have been plonking myself on the couch and taking each of the patterns out of their bags and dreaming about future quilt making expeditions!!!


I must say, I am feeling very inspired and after finishing my last quilt quite a few months ago I am wanting to dive into another now! Kate shares some great tips and techniques that make quilt sewing easy and fun and her patterns include detailed, step-by-step instructions complete with lots of photographs and diagrams.

I love Kate’s fabric choice and started reading her blog around the same time her Wonky Donkey Quilt was released. First of all – who doesn’t love Laurie Wisburn’s amazing fabric? But then to make an amazing wonky quilt out of it and photograph it on a real life donkey?!! That is awesome Kate!


The calming tones in Kate’s latest design, Sea Views are just beautiful. I have had a good read through this pattern and am intrigued at the way she cuts the curves using a freehand method and pieces them without using pins…I think this describes my kind of sewing, leaving lots of room to express yourself and do things your own way.



Kate Conklin Designs patterns are available on her website as a PDF download and can also be purchased at well-known fabric stores in Australia and around the rest of the world.

GIVEAWAY

As part of her Cool Shops! review, Kate has generously offered to host a giveaway to readers of my blog. One lucky person will win two patterns (of your choice) from her shop, as well as two pieces of coveted Heather Ross fabric as shown below! (Will someone please enter for me?!) The bicycle fabric is half a metre (20″) and the mushrooms is a 5″ x 18″ strip. All you have to do to enter is leave a comment!


Giveaway will close on Wednesday 8th September and winner will be drawn randomly. Your comment will be disqualified if you do not leave an email address in your comment or linked to your profile.
August 31, 2010
Make It Perfect

.Macaron Quest.

If you do a bit of blog-hopping, I’m sure you are more than familiar with the French delicacy, Macarons. These are not to be confused with the egg white/coconut dollop biscuit, Coconut MacarOOns.

I’ve been keen to do some Macaron baking for quite some time, but fancy recipe blogs keep putting me off after they go through tedious step-by-step instruction with lots of caution and warning about how difficult these biscuits are to master. I’m ready to give it a go though, ready to fail and try again if needs be (although I hope not!) and ready to sink my teeth into some Macaron deliciousness.

When we were in Sydney last month we visited the Lindt Chocolate Cafe where I was lucky enough to actually taste my first Macaron…OH MY!!!! They are 100 x better than I even imagined and it is a good thing that there is no where around here that I can buy them from!

I bought this cookbook awhile ago and after reading it through am ready to start baking…but thought before I dive in I would see if any of my blog readers have had Macaron experiences, good or bad, to share?? If you have had a go at making Macarons, PLEASE give me some tips…tell me what did/didn’t work – even share some recipes that you have successfully tried?

If you are Macaron-clueless, then here is a visual treat to drool over – and stay tuned…I’ll share my Macaron trials with you soon!


1. lime and coconut macarons, 2. Christmas Macarons, 3. Mini Macarons, 4. French Macaroons, 5. strawberry and vanilla bean macarons, 6. Pistachio Macaroons, 7. macaroon ou amores de paris, 8. pistachio and grapefruit macarons, 9. Pierre Herme’s box of Macaroons, 10. Matcha Tea and Chocolate Macarons, 11. Macarons!, 12. My First Macarons!!, 13. Macaronlicious, 14. La gourmandise, 15. Dominoes, 16. balancing act 8367

August 30, 2010
Make It Perfect

.Recipe Monday.

This is one dinner that I can pretty much guarantee is enjoyed by everyone in my family. Something that doesn’t happen all that often. In fact, just about every night (unless it is toasted sandwiches) we find ourselves saying, “3 more chickens, 2 more carrots and 2 more potatoes and you can leave the table.” I’m looking forward to the time when family meal time includes more general chit-chat and not so much negotiating! This recipe is one of those ones that I don’t have accurate measurements for, just make it up as you go!

Chicken Fried Rice
2-3 cups cooked rice
sesame oil
500g chicken thighs, cut into small pieces
1 onion, chopped
garlic
bacon, cut into small pieces
4 eggs
frozen peas
corn
celery, chopped
sweet chilli sauce
oyster sauce
soy sauce

Heat sesame oil in wok. Stir-fry chicken pieces in small batches until cooked through. Remove to a plate and set aside.
Heat sesame oil in wok. Stir-fry onion, garlic and bacon until cooked. Remove to a plate or push right to one side of the wok.
Add eggs to the wok, stirring continually until cooked and scrambled. Stir through onion mixture.
Add rice, chicken peas, corn and celery. Stir over high heat until warmed and peas are defrosted.
Finish by adding a dollop of each of the sauces (add more to taste if needed). These sauces are the “magic ingredient” and make your chicken fried rice taste fabulous 🙂

August 30, 2010
Make It Perfect

.Big Uptown Girl.

This Big Uptown Girl jacket has been hanging around unfinished for 2 months. Why is it that finishing a garment – in this case, making a button hole and sewing on two buttons, ends up being put off for so long when it only takes 10 minutes to actually finish it when you finally work up the motivation to get it done?!

Or is that just me? Am I the only one who pushes the “finishing off” jobs aside?


Anyway, it is done now and I love it. This is a girl’s size 10 – the biggest size that the Uptown Girl jackets come in. I can actually put it on – but the sleeves are too short and it is a bit tight across the back/chest…just a thought for those of you who keep begging me to produce a women’s Uptown Girl…if you are a little bit confident with your sewing I reckon you could probably make a few adjustments to the largest size to make it fit yourself 😉


I really like how the fabric combo turned out. To be honest, I didn’t think that they worked that well together before sewing it up but I was keen to get a size 10 sewn up to make sure it all worked okay and had limited larger pieces of fabric in my stash to choose from. These are two of my favourite fabrics though, I love Saffron Craig’s Fields range – I don’t have any of the yellow dandelion in my stash but think that I need to get myself some to do something with for summer. I’m always drawn to Amy Butler’s “coordinating” fabrics too – Sunspots, Happy Dots…I always stock up on them because they are great for mixing and matching with busier prints.

So, the only question now, is what to do with this Big Uptown Girl?? I could hold onto it for Lil to wear in 7 years or maybe I’ll put it up for sale with my other sample garments that I am about to sell off?? Hmm…


SUPPLIES:
Make It Perfect, Big Uptown Girl pattern
Saffron Craig, Fields, Dandelion in Pink
Amy Butler, Love, Sunspots in Turquoise

August 28, 2010
Make It Perfect

.A Blog Announcement from Lil.


Lilsy (who prefers to wear nothing but undies and a singlet) would like to notify you of a couple of changes around the blog…

1. On the left-hand sidebar we now have a handy link to Leanne’s Free Art Prints so that you don’t have to hunt around for them anymore.

2. If you click on the Recipe Monday link underneath the header at the top of the page, you will be directed to a new fancy pants Recipe Monday page – including a complete index of ALL of the recipes that have been published on my blog along with a photograph of each recipe 🙂 It is highly likely that I have stuffed up some of the links on the page, so if you are looking for the homemade marshmallow recipe and end up at the recipe for easy fried rice – let me know!

That’s all. Thanks Lil 🙂

August 27, 2010